


Locked in the Present

by balimaria



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Kass Is Good, Memories, Post-Calamity Ganon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 16:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19360666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/balimaria/pseuds/balimaria
Summary: Link remembers nothing but glimmers. How does this affect how he sees the world?





	Locked in the Present

The crashing of the waves mirrored the crashing within his mind. They were equally relentless, too. Pounding again and again upon his head, bringing sharp pulses of pain with it.  
Link stumbled down the grassy hill, his momentum almost flinging him into the water. But he managed to dig his heels into the sand before it happened.

Trying not to double over from the pain, Link turned and hefted himself under the rocky overhang that the waves had eroded into a cave. It was a place he often came to when his memories gave him trouble, as they were doing now. It was silent, save for the wind and the waves. There was a campfire if he ever grew cold, and he could catch crabs or take a swim if he became restless. 

Link slid down the side of the cave, pressing a hand to his pounding forehead. It had been a memory of Mipha this time. Her gentle golden eyes had imprinted themselves on the back of his eyelids, and refused to leave.  
He pulled a flameblade from his slate and lit the campfire in an attempt to distract himself.

_"Remember..."_

The Zora Princess's soft voice seemed to echo from nowhere.

_"I will always heal you..."_

Link stared into the fire, but it served no purpose other than to remind him more of Mipha. She had been firey, for someone so quiet.

_"...When all this is over..."_

Rain began to fall, mixing with the sea spray. The fire kept burning, safe beneath the overhang.

_"Maybe things could go back to how they used to be, when we were young."_

Fog drifted down from Mount Lanayru, settling over the squall that was forming.

_"You know..."_

The crabs fled for shelter, making tiny tracks to wherever they skittered off to.

_"Maybe we could spend some time together."_

~

The pain in Link's head began to subside, even as the squall raged on. The soft light of Mipha's eyes faded, and was gone.  
Link took a few minutes to collect himself. Despite the miserable weather, he did not have time to dawdle. Hyrule needed him, and he had to supply.

"Ho! Champion!"

The sudden voice and the sound of disrupted sand pulled Link out of his mind. He looked upward, spying the silhouette of someone broad-shouldered.  
"Mind if I come in?"  
Link recognized the voice of Kass, the Rito bard he had first met at the stables. He nodded and beckoned the Rito into the shelter of the cave.  
"Thank Hylia! I feared I would never find a place to dry my feathers!"  
Kass sat down next to him. His eyes glowed in the fire light. Link didn't know why, but he was suddenly overcome with a wave of nostalgia.  
"So," Kass began. "What brings the hero here in such weather?"

Link thought for a moment. He could lie, but what point would that serve?  
"Headache," he said.  
Kass nodded. "Well, I do hope you are feeling better, then."  
Silence reigned for a few minutes after that. Link watched the sky and sea rage from within the bubble of fire light, but his mind was far away.

"...Kass?"  
The Rito glanced at him. "What is it, Champion?"  
Link took a breath, collecting his thoughts. Kass waited patiently.

"Everything in Hyrule has been damaged by the Calamity in some way. The cities are wrecked. The people are scared, even the ones who weren't alive when it first happened."  
The sea warred on, waters dark and gray.  
"But I don't remember anything. This... emptiness is all I've ever known."  
Link sighed, and finally looked up at Kass.  
"But the ruins, the wildlife, the... loneliness of it all..."  
He took a moment to gather himself, preparing for what he was actually trying to say.  
"I don't think it's bad. I mean, everything that was lost is! But...

"When I look out at Hyrule after scaling Mount Lanayru, or reaching the peaks of the Gerudo Highlands, I don't see a world ravaged by a monster. I see a world that is beautiful because it is lonely, because it's wild."  
Link stared at Kass, right into the fire light that danced in his eyes. 

"Is that okay?"

Kass was silent for a spell. Then, finally, he spoke.

"I believe so, Champion."  
A smile pulled at the Rito's face. "Though, I do hope you still intend to destroy the Calamity."  
Link felt a smile playing at his own lips.  
"Of course."

He looked back out onto the land. The storm had blown itself out, and the waves had grown calm. The world fell silent, save for the wind and the water.

**Author's Note:**

> The location this chapter takes place in is a cove just north of the Samasa Plains, by Lanayru Bay.


End file.
